


Dragon Ball: Another Road

by DrTwit



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Anti-Hero, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family, Gen, Humor, Identity, Original Character(s), POV Third Person, Sexual Humor, Slow Build, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-10-22 02:38:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10688064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrTwit/pseuds/DrTwit
Summary: With the Androids destroyed, he thought the nightmare was over. But when Babidy the Wizard appears to unleash a terrible monster on the world, and with deadly plot across time and space lurking in the shadows; Trunks has to face his nightmare once again. With the daughter of his fallen mentor by his side, a vengeful tyrant breathing down his neck and a warning from time itself; Trunks realises there's more at stake here than just his timeline. And in the end, will he find that it was his fault all along?





	1. Fate of the Forgotten Timeline

The sky was a pale blue ocean, just like it always was. Even when it was supposed to be night time the sky remained stagnant in its view. Some might have found that a comforting convenience to encounter every day, but for the short pink haired woman making her way down the cobbled path, it was a grim sight to be sure. It never felt like an actual sky, like nature’s beauty draped over her. No, all she could see when walking under it was a hollow shell, an artificial projection that was stuck on one roll of tape.

It was a reflection of this whole place. One glance at the imposing marble tower made one feel small, the clean white shine that stuck with it only made her think of how long she had spent cleaning it. The freshly cut grass added to the overall gracefulness of the beautiful garden… Which had remained untouched for millions of years. Everything here was stagnant. Yes, many things moved freely and worked, but nothing ever seemed to have any sort of life to it (And considering that the tower had a tree growing out of the roof, that’s quite the accomplishment)

Worse of all, it was basically empty. Though as the woman looked down at the tray of tea that she held, she was reminded that it wasn’t completely empty. But still…

“I hope I’m not being too presumptuous…” She continued on her way to the intimidating set of stairs that led to the tower’s open door. No matter what she thought of the overall scenery, she had to admit that there was a certain enchanting and mysterious feeling when approaching the top of the stairs; though nowhere near the feelings she had when she had first stepped foot here. “He won’t mind if I disturb him working, right?”

Without hesitation she strode right through the open double doors, the tea cups jittering along with her shaky hands. He always said I had too much energy… On the other side of the doors stood a relatively short hallway, dimly lit with a purple glow that enveloped the entire hallway, as well as giving the woman a small head ache. At the end of the hallway the walls opened out into a circular room full of strange diamond patterns, which looked more akin to unintentional smudges than an actual design littering the walls. There was a small window here and there that pulled light from the outside in, actually giving the illusion of life for the moment.

There were other ‘windows’ on the wall that simply held more strange patterns to make the room look more interesting, all glaring towards the centre, where a large table of solid oak stood firm. A tall man stood as well with his back to the woman, his black and white overcoat running right down to his feet, along with a blue cape that adorned his shoulder; the dark colours making his smoothed back bright crimson hair stand out. “You didn’t knock.” His voice rung loud throughout the empty room, his eyes not even leaving the scroll that he currently had down on the table.

At his sudden acknowledgment of her presence the woman almost dropped the tray cradled in her arms, but only just managed to balance it out before anything spilled out. “Oh! Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you, Sir-“

The man stretched out his hand as a sign for her to stop, raising himself from his slightly crouched position and finally tearing his eyes away from the scroll, meeting the woman with a warm smile. “No harm done, Chronoa. But please, do remember common curtesy next time” 

“Yes, Sir… Again, sorry for bothering you. But after going through my usual duties, I decided to bring you some tea!” Chronoa did not notice when the man’s face visibly fall at the prospect of her tea.

“You didn’t break anything, did you?”

“I didn’t break anything…” She chuckled nervously “…Important. Anyway, my own special brew. Sir.” Her head was lowered in a bow as she presented her brew to her superior, who took the cup with an expression that was in between a thankful smile and a grimace. 

Immediately upon sipping the liquid within (His small apprentice now watching in anticipation) the man immediately felt sick. “I thought I insisted that you not trouble yourself with my drinks”

“It’s not too much trouble, really!” He sometimes wondered if she knew how wrong she was and was actually trying to poison him this whole time. 

“Sadly, I do not have time to savour the taste” While work was a neatly covenant excuse, it was still true that work had been exceptionally piling up over the past few years. Due to unforeseen conditions from the ‘outside’. Setting the rest of the tray down, the pink skinned Kai made her way over to beside the man as he turned his attention back to the scroll, where only now did she begin to notice the purple aura that began to waft around the scroll like gas. 

“What’s wrong with the scroll?”

“Another change” The man’s face soured at the sight. On the old and spread out parchment a picture had developed, the image began to shift to different views of the same environment and soon into movement, like a clip show transitioning into a full blown video. In it the two bore witness to a boy with hair of pure gold moving through the air at a speed that was barely visible to either, flipping in place before glaring down out of the view of the frame, before pushing his hands forward and screaming as he fired out a huge blast of ki down below him. “Somewhere in this world yet another change has taken place, another wrench thrown in the wheel of balance. But I’m afraid I’m having a hard time finding the change. All I know is that earth is its origin. In the same 'place' as last time”

Chronoa sighed briefly, in all her time spent working under the older man, Earth had been the very heart where all their problems pooled from. “The earthlings again?”

“While they may not have asked for it, their planet seem to have become the stage for the next universal disaster” Raising his hand he called forth a staff from the corner of the room.

“Disaster!? But, we don’t if the change is that bad…”

“Chronoa.” He gazed at her with a solemn expression, his other hand reaching out to grip her shoulder. “In all my centuries as the Supreme Kai of Time I’ve learned many things. The most important that being no matter the intentions, good or bad, messing around with time never ends well. Not only is it a sin in of itself, but it threatens all of existence. With the last few times we’ve only been lucky, but with each minute an echo of time makes the struggle all the more impossible”

She wanted to respond, but she could only start chewing the inside of her lip as a feeling of embarrassment started to flood her mind. She should have known that already. “You’re right, Sir. But what do we do then?”

“The only thing we can do. Wait. Oversee. And hope we are not required to take even more risk and intervene.”  


________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A sigh of relief managed to escape from his lips for the first time in a while. Trunks Briefs dropped down to sit on the bench, a branded fizzy drink held loosely in his hands, its ice cold touch was a very relaxing combatant to the vigorous sweat that gushed down his exposed arms. It had been a long time since the half-saiyan man had been able to kickback for more than a minute, not that he would complain. Every second he and his mother spent breaking their backs in rebuilding the world around them, was a second he would savour. Yes, even for someone who could balance a sun on one hand with little effort, the constant work over the years was more than a little exhausting even if worth it.

And as his gaze swept over the newly rebuilt town square he could feel a large smile grace his lips, a smile he hadn’t felt since all those years ago after Cell’s demise, when the sun finally peeked over the edge of the world to greet him. Earth was a planet of very stubborn people, even after the androids had seemingly left the planet desolate, the Earth was still able to pull itself back together.

The first town to pull back together was Orange Star City, the city where it all ended. Where the pair of demons that ravaged the world was put down for good. The city was being built up as a beacon of hope, to show that the world wasn’t over yet, so its reconstruction was top priority. In the square that was just across the road from the newly built mayor’s office, the ground had been fitted with actual grass that looked like a soft green blanket, a few ponds sprinkled around the square filled with fresh water. Couple that with the sun’s golden gaze, the large bushy trees sprouting from the ground and the (annoying) chirps of random species of birds, it was quite a beautiful sight to behold.  
“And just in time for the world to celebrate its eighth year of… Peace” It wasn’t as peaceful as Trunks would have liked, criminals were still a problem, growing bolder since the merciless androids left the picture. But surprisingly, there was much less than before; apparently criminals are a little jumpy when they know there exists a man who does care about the law who can also kill you with just his finger. 

Eight years? Has it really been eight years? The thought brought a chuckle out of Trunks’s mouth, though still broken up, just one glance at the street and you’d never guess how it was basically a wasteland only eight years prior. Earth had managed to put those days behind it. And for Trunks, that was truly a miracle. _I wish you could have been here to see this, Gohan. Most of this is thanks to you, and yet you’ll never get the praise you deserve…_ Drudging up memories of his old mentor was cut short when Trunks heard it. A low foot step. Slow, cautious, someone was sneaking up on him. Soon after he could hear their failed attempts to hide their breathing, as they neared him a pebble came into contact with their foot, dragging bits of dirt as it nosily rolled forward. And his ‘attacker’ didn’t seem to notice.

Trunks sighed. And in one swift motion was on his feet with his arm lazily pushed out to block the incoming blow from his attacker’s foot. “Oh common!” Moaned the attacker as their combat boots were easily pushed away from Trunks. He traded a cocky smirk with his attacker, her short raven hair now draping over her charcoal eyes after he shoved her back. Her eyes came down collectively to return his smirk with a glare, pounding her gloved fists together before charging at him again with her fists raised high. The fist had quite a bit of force behind it, Trunks was confident that if he didn’t easily divert it away with his palm, it could have left a few good bruises. Either way he now dealt with her other fist much the same way, though this time his fist batted her own away just so it could reach down to grab her by her green camo shirt.

With a fist full of green fabric, he yanked her towards him, while twisting his body to place himself beside her as his leg came under to sweep jean-clad legs off the ground. Now that the girl realised her situation se could only pout at the man’s smug grin before he slammed her to the ground with his hand.

“Truuuunks! No fair, you cheated.” The girl whined as Trunks let go of her, returning to his seat on the bench.

He raised a quizzical brow at her accusation. “I cheated? Weren’t you the one who was sneaking up on a guy just trying to relax?”

“You knew I was there the entire time, didn’t you?”

“Yep”

“Smug bastard…” Said smug bastard merely grinned at the girl’s grumbled insult, waving his finger in her face.

With a teasing tone he spoke “Son Pan, what did your mother say about swearing?” Emphasising her full name to annoy the girl even further, she had spoiled his relaxation and she would pay for it. As predicted she continued to pout and groan as she sat herself on the bench next to him.

“Mom says a lot of things… But it’s my solemn duty as a delinquent to ignore them” She was slumped next to Trunks, only coming around to just over his hip in height. He resisted a chuckle that she of all people would use such an old-timey sounding word 

“Aren’t you a little old to be a delinquent?” As he spoke he finally got around to opening up his can, giving it a refreshing sip.

“Can I have some?” Pan piped up as the heavenly cold liquid just began to drip down his parched throat. She now held enormous eyes and an equally sweaty and pathetic face, perfect for tricking gullible and nice people. Trunks was such a person and eventually handed the can over to Pan. As expected the girl ‘accidentally’ downed the whole can in her thirst, leaving none left for Trunks, to which she noticed when she attempted to hand it back to him. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I guess I got carried away there, huh?” She frowned, shaking the can again to try and hear more liquid, but no dice. “D-don’t worry, I’ll go get you another one! Where did you get it!?”

“It’s fine, Pan” The man shrugged, thinking to himself [i]Yep, she is her Grandfather’s Granddaughter. [/i]Son Pan had been a troublesome (As his father would put it) brat since day one, all the way back to when Videl had first given birth to the little ‘Rebel’. Who had then proceeded to punch Trunks in his face when the boy had attempted to hold her baby self.

“Alright, I admit it. You kicked my ass back there. But that’s just a onetime thing!” After Trunks cleared her of all guilt for the can stealing incident, Pan went back to rant about Trunks beating her yet again. “I mean, if I got some training from some ultra-powerful, Android killing, sword wielding master. I would totally win” That marked a stark difference Pan had with her father as Trunks had learned after his trip to the past, she was always striving to be like the stories she had heard about her grandpa. The Legendary Goku. Where Gohan fought because he had to, Pan fought because she loved it.

“You want me to train you?” Honestly, Trunks felt flattered by the suggestion, the daughter of Son Gohan asking HIM for training. Thought considering Trunks still had much to learn himself, he couldn’t really imagine himself in a teaching role. 

“It makes perfect sense! My dad trained you, so it’s kind of like you passing on the family torch!” The girl now had her arms behind her head, fixing Trunks with a determined stare. She was really fixated on this. He supposed it wouldn’t hurt to train another up someone else to protect the Earth if he’s ever absence during a major threat (Really, with this planet’s record. Eight years was even more of a miracle), though he doubted that anything would come that would really be that big of a threat. [i]Makes me think of how it went for Pan in the past. Would she still even exist there? Did Gohan even meet Videl?[/i]

“I’ll think about it…”

With that classic Son smile the little girl jumped into the air “That’s basically a yes, right? AHA! I’ll show you, Old Man. You won’t regret it!”

_So, Gohans her father and Videl is her mother… So, who the hell did she inherit her attitude from!?_

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The dark hallway was littered with what remained of Dr Gero’s underground lab, various chunks of rock had collapsed in on the now broken equipment that had made up the room. With the sea of darkness flooding what at the moment could be considered a cave, the only source of light that scared away the shadows for a brief moment was the instantaneous flash of sparks that came from loose wiring. None of this phased the lone visitor that calmly walked over the destroyed corpse of Gero’s lab, a calm grace to her step as her bandaged hand came up to the green scouter that slightly illuminated her pale forehead. “You sure this is the place; all I’m seeing is scrap metal”

“I’m sure. All signs point to there… They should be right below you, if you look around maybe you can find a trap d-” Before the deep voice on the other end could finish his response the woman had raised her hand and let out a small blast of ki into the ground. “Or you could risk harming them like the reckless monkey you are”

“If that blast destroyed them, I wouldn’t be down here in the first place” She stated bluntly as her body hovered over the hole she had created, enabling her to stare down a dark abyss where she could only just tell that there was something below. “He’s got a sub-lab in his sub-lab? What a weird guy”

“Dr Gero wasn’t the most predictable man from what I heard”

Lowering herself down the hole the woman faced the ever familiar walls of weakened rock with a look of boredom, each inch deeper made it slightly harder to breathe. “Someone wrecked this place up good, think the half-breed had a tantrum after he broke Gero’s toys?” Soon her feet finally touched the ground with a soft and echoey thump, creating a ball of light in her hand to make it easier to see. “Found em” Within second she spotted what she had come for aligned neatly in a row at the side of the room, it seemed that whoever destroyed the upstairs lab didn’t even come close to touching this one. As she shone her ball of light on the what she could see were pods, she could read the writing clearly, even if a bit dusty. 

**13 – 14 – 15**

“Activate them”


	2. Kaioshin under attack! - Shin VS The Deadly Duo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Bulma continues with her efforts to restore the planet, Shin and Kibito receive some deadly visitors.

White locks were joined with various beads of sweat that dripped down a crimson forehead, an invisible force seemingly putting pressure on the large man who stood perched on a hill top, his arms out stretched towards a solid block of some dark material. With every moment he gave off a grunt, struggling away with his invisible ‘attacker’ as his eyes focused directly on the block that towered over him.

“Kibito, I think it’s about time you stopped for a rest” The voice of the Supreme Kai roused the attendant away from his focus, briefly putting his telekinetic training on hold. He voiced no questions in response to his superior, only followed the advice given. For around an hour now Kibito had been hard at work sharpening his telekinetic abilities, which now and again had become an extremely handy tool both on and off battle, but while Kibito had years of experience; there was always room for improvement.

With no hesitation the attendant turned his back to the block and made his way down the hill back towards the Supreme Kai (Or Shin, as he liked to be called), who now stood in an almost guard-like position under the shadow of the large tree behind him. As Kibito continued down the hill he glanced off to the side where the crimson hilt of the legendary Z Sword still poked into view, the rest of the sword currently impaled through the ground beneath it. As it had been for centuries.  
“Did you require something, Supreme Kai?” Kibito questioned when he came to a stop just a short distance away from the rather vertically challenged god, watching Shin look down into the depths of his all-seeing orb.

Shin himself merely offered his attendant a smile. “Not at all, I simply didn’t wish for you to push yourself too hard. I still need you with me for the very moment we find Babidi”

At the mention of the green skinned prune Kibito frowned. The past few weeks had been nothing but space hoping from every hole in the entire quadrant, turning every stone and looking down every crack for the sinister wizard known as Babidi. A vile maniac set on releasing an evil more destructive than the universe had ever witnessed. A creature responsible for the previous Eastern Kai to now be the lone Supreme Kai. Well, in this universe.

“The fiend has now turned back to set his sights on Earth, I know it” This had been the fifth planet that Shin had referred to as such, though Kibito refused to point this out.

Though the man didn’t resist voicing the most obvious question. “Why Earth? If I recall correctly, isn’t that planet just a smouldering wasteland now? Surely not the most fitting location to find energy”

Shin face fell to a much darker scowl towards the orb nestled amongst the tall blades of grass. “Not so. These days the inhabitants seem to have made their situation better, though as far as I can see there’s no one of note that Babidi could take energy from. There are much more lively planets in the galaxy next to it… Unless… He no longer needs the energy.”

“Could he be on his way to resurrect Buu right now? How would he know…?” Shin’s question was more directed at himself, he had personally saw to the location of the trapped Buu’s burial ground, deep under the Earth’s crust. At the time it had seemed like such a good hiding place. Could Babidi have found it somehow? What other reason would the Wizard of had for going to a planet that lacked the energy he needed?

Kibito shook his head forcefully. “Evil such as him are crafty, he would of found it one day…”

“There’s always the chance that I’m completely wrong, and I have been before… But even a small chance of that… Monster being released is something we need to look into” Shin raised his two fingers up to his forehead, his other hand reaching out towards his body guard. “We’ll head to earth to investigate. And if we’re lucky, we’ll find and destroy Babidi just like we did Bibidi”

“Eh, I reckon you have as much chance at doing that as your butler there has of moving that cube. But, I guess if a pip squeak like you can be called a God, stranger things can happen” The voice that sought to insult Shin confused the man for a brief moment, the accent sounding akin to what earthlings would refer to as a ‘Southern Drawl’.

“Kibito! This is no time for impr-“ Before his brain could even register what was going on, Shin found Kibito’s hand shooting forward to give him a forceful shove. At the exact moment of the shove, a large blast of golden energy shot past the man’s eyes, just managing to brush against the skin of his nose. With a stinging sensation flooding the tip of his nose, the Supreme Kai realised that it wasn’t his bodyguard making insulting remarks.

“What do ya’ think, Pip Squeak? Can a corpse ruffle a Space Wizard’s feathers?” A chuckle followed the voice this time, prompting Shin to spin around to face the unwelcome intruder. The chuckle seemed to belong to the large man that sat casually on a protruding rock, with the smuggest grin he could muster enveloping his face as he stared straight at Shin, pure glee shining in his eyes while completely ignoring Kibito. “You know, us folks down on the farms find staring to be really… How’d you holy folks put it? Uncivilised?” Silver locks, peachy skin, green vest and a trucker hat? This man certainly didn’t look like someone who was supposed to be in the Realm of the Kias.

“W-who are you!? W-why? What? HOW!?” The Supreme being managed to stumble over all of his words, the shock of the situation easily ripping his calm demeanour away from him. His stumbles only became more frequent as he reached out with his mind to try and gauge the intruder’s power, but to his horror he found that there was nothing there to sense. It wasn’t a low ki count. It was like there was no ki at all, yet the man had been able to blast at Shin with such ease. “What’s this? Kibito, I can’t sense his energy!”

Turning towards his bodyguard for confirmation, Shin found that Kibito wore a similar look of surprise, though the man had regained his composure and moved forward to stand in between the attacker and Shin. “Neither can I, Supreme Kai. He must be hiding his power from us somehow…”

A sour look could be seen dawning on the man’s face as the tip of his finger pushed up his trucker hat, a sequence of tuts produced by his lips. “Now, ya see I know I didn’t make the best impression charging in here like an uncontrollable bull. But I find it mighty insulting dat y’all would just talk about me like I ain’t around”

With a loud battle cry Kibito charged in at the large country boy, disappearing before the man’s eyes to close the distance between them. The Intruder didn’t even seem to flinch as Kibito closed in on him with fists shooting out to give the man a heavy blow to the head. It felt strange just how little the man had attempted to put up some sort of guard, judging by his bulging build Kibito could tell that the man was a fighter in some way, but made no effort to react; was the man really so confident that Kibito’s punch would be ineffective?

Kibito’s first came into contact with something hard that wasn’t even moved an inch, something that clearly the flesh and blood that Kibito had expected to hit. It was a hand that now blocked the attack, and as a slight gleam was reflected in the hand, Kibito realised that it was made of some sort of metal.

“Oh, gosh darn. And with all that fuss I forgot to introduce my pals over here” The man Kibito intended to hit brought himself to his feet, pushing on past his metal bodied friend that stood blocking Kibito’s punch. “They’re a shy lot, so show them a little patience. Will ya, Mr Butler? Thanks”

The Bodyguard’s eyes glared up at his new foe, faced with only an emotionless expression in return. The metal man was yet another big brute in appearance, a long raven ponytail running down his back as he awaited Kibito’s next move. _Wait… They!?_ Kibito’s realisation came all too late as before he could even attempt to jump back, a sharp pain spread throughout his wait as the result of a small object digging into his back.

As this happened the original man had now completely passed Kibito and headed straight for Shin, the Supreme Kai tore his eyes away from his distracted bodyguard to face the laughing southerner, pushing his own body into a fighting stance. “14, 15. Play nice. I’ve gotta teach shorty here some manners in how he treats guests”  
“You heard the Boss-man, 14. Let’s show this player how we move” Another accent that neither Kibito nor Shin had ever heard came from what Kibito assumed the be his rear attacker. And by deduction, Mr 15. 14’s fingers down contracted to crush the attendent’s fist in an iron grip, his knee rising up and lodging itself in Kibito’s stomach.

This took the wind out of Kibito for a while, but he did not allow this to deter him for too long. Immediately fighting through the pain Kibito struggled to raise his other hand and ram it into 14’s head, sending the metal man back a little, but doing nothing to break the hand’s grip on him arm. Unfortunately, 14 used this chance to yank Kibito up by his hand alone and hold the man in place for a very short purple man with an over-the-top green hat to appear, his puffy pink lips smirking in delight as he rammed hat-first into Kibito’s body.

Before Kibito could register the pain of another blow to the stomach his entire body was sent rocketing backward, he assumed that he might be given some time to recover and charge back at his foes (They did seem like the type to wait for him to get back up so they could take time to laugh), but he quickly caught sight of the now airborne 14 hot on his trail.

* * *

The sweet smell of progress was in the air. Well, there was sweat as well, a little blood and a lot of copper, but overall; progress! At least, that’s what Bulma Briefs smelled as she watched the construction site from atop her hover-scooter. Various men and woman currently rushed about the site, bobbing and weaving past each other, some with some tool or another in hand.

They had only started rebuilding the neighbourhood a month ago, and yet so far they had managed to progress over the half way point in so little time, it was truly astonishing for what had been a graveyard beforehand. But, as it was said these days: Give Bulma a screwdriver, a goal, a few dedicated men and that woman will work miracles. Bulma herself looked better than she had in decades, even with a few wrinkles here and there, her skin was had lost the years of stress that used to weigh it down. Turns out that not having to live in fear of a psychotic android kicking down your door does wonders for your skin.

When she started up the Revitalization Project even she had not expected so many people to apply to help, but she would never complain, they were a big help. They started in Orange Star City of course, rebuilding the most important buildings like the Mayor’s Office, the high school, before moving on to housing itself.  
The plan was to remake the whole neighbourhood from the ground up to be the beautiful, friend and liveable community it was before the Androids came along and destroyed everything. Make society a functional one again, they already had selected a new mayor for Orange Star City, enlisted security to knock back against any criminal activity and overall keep the workers safe. Though while the houses were being built, citizens were living inside camps around the city, set up with tents and a steady food supply.

“Miss Briefs?” A man had approached her while she was admiring the view, he held a thick wooden clip board and seemed very rigid in his stance. Bulma had hired him as her field manager for when she couldn’t be in the area. “We’re experiencing a few problems, various reports of technical malfunctions, animal habitats obstructing some of our work… Oh, and your new engineers are here” He held up a smoking device that had obviously exploded in some poor sod’s hand.

With a sigh Bulma took the tool in her hand and fixed the man with a professional stare. “Alright, tell the workers to start busting out our less convenient tools and to take all technology over to the storage shed, I don’t want to chance an accident occurring. Ill inspect the ‘obstructions’ later, but for now have em work around it” The man furiously wrote down her words as she dished out orders, hovering past him and beckoning him to follow. “Where are the newbies?”

“Uh, down here!” A female voice yelped as Bulma brought her ride to an abrupt stop, looking down she discovered that she was close to running over three very odd looking people. Specifically a tall woman in tattered dark clothing, a small dog in a skin tight ninja suit and… some sort of goblin creater in a clown outfit? Overall, Bulma was confused. “Mam!”

“You’re my new assistant Engineers?”

“Yes, mam!” Chirped the tall woman, though looking at her face you would say that she was absolutely terrified of Bulma for some reason.

The strange Goblin creature spoke up “Mai, be quiet. I’ll do the talking here!” His voice was scratchy and loaded in ego, Bulma was already annoyed listening to it. “Greetings! I, the great and loyal Pilaf, am here to help you with all of your technical needs” The Goblin’s face contorted into a pretty pathetic sight, attempting to suck up to her when he clearly didn’t want to.

And so the Dog began to speak “You must have heard of him, he used to-“ But was cut off by ‘Pilaf’ smacking the poor animal over the head.

“Shut it, Shew! You can’t just spill the beans like that!”

“Sorry, Sire... I just thought she’d remember us” This made Bulma tilt her head, she had never met any of these people in her entire life.

“Remember you? Have we met?”

Mai and Shew seemed awe struck by the question “H-have we!? You mean you don’t remember us at all?”

“Nope”

“We’re not even a little familiar looking?” Mai asked almost hopefully

“Look, I don’t know you and I don’t need to. All I need is to know that you guys are up for the job… And will be willing to do it quietly” _For my sanity’s sake._  Immediately Bulma whipped around on her vehicle and started to hover away at a slow pace. “I’ll take you to our supply shed, you can help my assistant repair these tools”

What Bulma could not see or hear from behind her was both Mai and Shu fighting to hold Pilaf back, the little goblin trying to rush up and attack Bulma. “I am the great Emperor Pilaf! I will not stand for this insult, I’m important enough to be remembered by some stuck up rich brat!” His words didn’t come out as loud when he wheezed them out through Mai’s hand.

“It doesn’t matter what she thinks, Sire. We’ll always remember you!” The Dog quietly assured his Master, while Mai nodded in agreement.

“Sire, we’ve been starved for years by now. Please don’t blow our one chance to earn some food because of your pride!” At this Pilaf stopped for a moment, glancing down at his small blue belly, growling like a terrible beast.

“Hmm… You’re right, maybe I’m being a bit too hasty… I mean, who cares what that Old Hag thinks. Yeah, with all those wrinkles and sagg-“ The dwarf’s insult was cut short when a sound that Pilaf swore was a T-Rex, broke out over them.

“I thought I said, FOLLOW ME!” Bulma’s roar from far away could be heard across the entire site

Pilaf and co instantly rushed towards her, screaming out ‘’YES, MISS BULMA, MAM!”

In a few moments the trio had ran all the way towards a more than a little moody Bulma, who scowled down at them from atop her ‘perch’, a look that brought a whole new meaning to the words ‘If looks could kill!’. “If you can’t follow simple instructions I can easily throw you out right now”

“No, please! WE’RE SORRY!” Pilaf cried out, falling to his knees. “We were just distracted your youthful looks and grace!”

“But weren’t you just talking about her sagg-“

“SHUT UP, SHU!” Pilaf barked at the creature beside him, before turning his gaze back to BUlma with an agonizingly forced smile. The woman seemed to have taken Pilaf’s compliment well, a proud smile taking over her demonic glare.

“Well, yes. I suppose that’s excusable… Just try not to do it again, or you’ll have my assistant to deal with” She let out a chuckle before leading the Trio into a large oval-shaped shed, a sign with ‘Supplies!’ crudely drawn on with felt tip, accompanied by a few smiley faces. _I still regret letting Pan write the signs…_

“Y-your assistant?” Mai stuttered, it didn’t sound that bad, but for some reason she felt a bit uneasy as Bulma pushed open the door.

The blue haired woman looked back to shoot the trio a playful smirk (Which to them looked more like a demonic smile), before steping to the side to let the three enter “You’ll love him, he’s like a giant teddy bear!”

On the inside they found it very easy to spot the man instantly within the shed, with the white and blue patterns that adorned the wall, his bright green colour scheme and enormous stature proved quite eye-catching. The man currently held a large crate in hand, though was seemingly caught up with something outside the window in front of him as he now stood frozen in place.

As he turned around to greet the ones who were disturbing his work, the Pilaf gang noticed that he was so tall that his ginger flame of a Mohawk currently bumped into the ceiling. Aside from his bulky build and sizable hands, the man looked rather friendly… Well, until he spoke. “Greetings, I am designated as Android 16. It is a pleasure to mak-“

The reaction was instant, the trio all open their mouths wider then humanly possible to let out a harmony of screams in the chorus of fear . “ANDROID!” Instantly Pilaf turn to run back but Bulma was there blocking his with an almost too amused look on her face. “Get out of the way, there’s a killer android in the room. WE NEED TO RUN!”

Soon Bulma broke out into laughter at the absolutely terrified faces of the Pilaf gang. “Now, now. Don’t talk about 16 like that, he’s a sweetheart. He wouldn’t hurt a fly”  
“Correction: I am completely capable of harm; I simply choose not to inflict it. I do not wish to hurt” The android softly put the crate down and approached the door with an almost guilty expression (The Pilaf Gang still trying to find a means of escape), offering his palm when he reached them all. “I am sorry if I scared you, but I can’t change what I am. If you will let me, I hope we can be friends”

“F-friends?” Shu seemed to suddenly have sparkles invade his eyes as he thought of the possibility of having what was basically a giant action figure as a friend.  
Pilaf elbowed both Mai and Shu to come close so that he could whisper between them “If we had a killer android in our pocket, we’d be invincible! I mean, not even that Goku-kid could beat them”

“Will you be my friend? I am always looking for more, and we can make this world a better place by helping Bulma. Unless you intend to harm any of the Briefs or their friends. Then I’m afraid we can’t be friends, because I will have to terminate you” It was hard to find any actual tone in his voice, the only hint of emotion they could get were his deadpan expressions. Either way, the Pilaf Gang just had to take one good look at his monstrous shoulders before smiling.

“Of course! Friends for ever and all that!” The room filled with nervous laughter “Hehe, why would anyone want to hurt any of the Briefs? That’s just insane!”

16 only offered them a smile, bowing his head in respect. “Thank you, new friends”

* * *

 

  
It was a hard task for Shin to not start watching Kibito’s brawl with the strange clothed duo, but the Kai had more a bigger threat to deal with at the moment and he was confident that his bodyguard could handle these intruders. “Why are you doing this?” His eyes became locked in a harsh staring contest between him and the man, the two now circling each other, daring the other to make the first move. “Are you with Babidi?”

“Don’t ya worry, little man. I’m just a simple man, with a simple goal. And it just so happens they include one dead purple son-of-a-bitch. The name’s 13” Shin launched himself at the man, staring off the fight with a spinning kick aimed at the man’s chest, though 13 was quick enough to bring his arm up and block the kick. “Your unlucky number” 13’s arm swung forward, catching Shin in the shoulder and sending him right back to the ground.

But Shin was quick to react and landed firmly on his feet, immediately pushing to attack as he leaped up into the air gracefully, unleashing a barrage of fists on 13’s head. Some of the blows were blocked or dodged by 13’s constant ducks and dukes, but many managed to land home, the constant barrage pushing the large man back every few blows. However with every fist that connected Shin gradually felt more and more like he was hitting a solid slab of katchin, couple that with the smug look on 13’s features that endured the beating, Shin doubted that he was actually doing that much damage.

Seeing no further point in beating on the man’s rather hard head, the Supreme Kai instead opted to drop down low and attempt to swipe at the man’s legs, intending to unbalance 13 by ramming his fists into the side of the man’s knees. But thinking quickly 13 threw himself backwards, pulling his body into the air and landing on his out stretched open palm. Giving room for the giant beast of a man to swing his legs through the air and send a kick towards Shin, the attack was so quick that Shin couldn’t fully dodge it, instead changing the victim of the attack to be his back.

This time Shin made a bit more than a dent when he hit the ground, the effects of the fight now starting to shred into his clothing, blood and bruises littering his lower body. Sluggishly, Shin dragged himself forward, trying to push himself to his feet. But the best he could do before 13’s foot came down on him was flip his body over so he could at least witness the man wiping a knuckle against his bruised cheek.

“Gotta admit, little man. You had more spunk than I ever could have guessed. I reckon dat if this weren’t business, I would have let you scarper off for that surprise” With yet another chuckle 13 shot the tip of his foot into Shin’s stomach, sending the small kai across the grass in a bloodied heap.

“Damn it!” The Supreme Kai screamed at 13, watching as the man proceeded to rub aware the muck on his cheek some more, revealing a slight grey tint just under the layer of ‘flesh’. “Y-you’re a machine!”

“Bingo. See, there’s a brain in that fine thick skull of yours after all!”

Back with Kibito it hadn’t taken a fighting genius to realise 14’s intentions as the metal man gained on Kibito, 14 now moving his body to aim downwards, planning to come down like a hammer on what he thought was a helpless Kibito. Taking action immediately, Kibito let out a grunt as he flipped his body around just as 14 began his straight nose dive into Kibito, allowing Kibito to make a crash landing on his feet. Though he didn’t have the balance to stay of his feet, Kibito was at least able to stomp his feet with enough force to throw himself to the side, just avoiding 14’s attack.

The android however upon witnessing Kibito move out of his collision path only had a split second to make up a plan, on instinct given to him by his sub-routines 14 pushed out his hands to support his landing, but at this speed the landing would not be a clean one. When his open palms collided with the ground 3 feet of dust enveloped the android’s vision, but no sort of crater was visable, as a whole his landing had left nothing but a dent in the ground. This came as surprising 14 a bit, he expected much more of an impact site. The surface of the planet here must have been much more durable then he thought.

It wasn’t long before his scanners picked up signs of movement just off to his side, quickly he pushed himself upwards back onto his feet, only to be met with Kibito’s fist slamming against his eye sockets with an audible crack. As the dust cleared Kibtio had managed to get back on his feet and took no hesitation in charging his foe, he successfully staggered the android with his punch, following the blow with another to swing the android’s head in another direction.

It was expected that 15 would be there seconds later to help his comrade, but that didn’t give Kibito enough time to avoid the purple dwarf’s hand digging into his sides, forcing the crimson skinned attendant to stop his assault on 14 “Hey, Red. I hope you didn’t forget about little ol’ me” With great effort, Kibito leaped back away from the chiding and annoying voice. “Don’t be like that, we don’t mean nothing. 14 was being friendly is all”

Kibito could only glare at the two seemingly unscaved monstrosities that didn’t show the least bit of apprehension about facing him, as his voice got caught up in his throat, Kibito realised that he was scared. It was obvious that the two together could easily overpower him, and if the other man is their boss, chances are that he’s even stronger. We need to retreat. Live and fight another day Just to mock the fallen bodyguard, the dwarf pulled out a small metal flask, popping off the top of it with a smirk. “Rest for a minute, Old Timer. I gotta loosen up my circuits”

It was the perfect opportunity. 14 was waiting for 15 to give the go ahead, and 15 was taking his sweet time chugging away at his liquid. Now was their chance to escape, Kibito just had to grab Shin and get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, when looking over to his superior Kibito discovered that Shin was in an even worse situation. Shin now struggled to stand against 13, who was merely stalking towards Shin as if he were a hungry predator. With one flick of his index finger 13 fired a crimson ki blast that penetrated Shin’s chest in an instant, forcing the Kai to his knees.

 _I have to act now…_ Kibito turned back to the duo who still stood tauntingly, the fact that they still stood felt like an insult. He wouldn’t be able to do anything with them still there, he had to distract them for at least thirty seconds, then he could give Shin a chance. With a sigh Kibito pushed his hands behind his back and let his head drop into some sort of miniature bow. “I… I concede… I am no match for you”

“Pffft, you give up? What kind of whack-ass bodyguard are you?” The dwarf voice was especially annoying when he thought he was victorious, releasing a sigh of content when ripping the flask away from his lips. In Kibito’s hands he began to charge up some ki in his hidden palms, he hoped he had enough time, as soon as either of the two got close enough they’d realise what he’s doing. “Hmpf, maybe I did overdo it. Don’t care either way. Better just get this over with, 14, erase em”

“B-But wait!” _I need more time!_

“What now? It’s too late to beg for your life” _Almost there…_

“I have some… final words…” Kibito kept his gaze fixed at the ground, it was hard to keep a straight face as he gathered energy in his hands, each step 14 took made him more nervous. It was fortunate that neither of the two seemed to be able to sense his energy.

“Yeah, and I have some words as well. I don’t care”

It was now or never. The air seemed to pool around Kibito’s palms as he finished charging, taking one step back and bringing his arms back around his body, giving off one final cry before bringing them together. “ **SHOCKWAVE**!” Immediately the air around them crackled as an invisable force cracked through it, causing an audible thunder-like fizzle as it all rushed towards he duo, hitting them dead on and bringing them right off their feet.  
With no time to spare Kibito pivoted on his foot to see 13 getting closer and closer to Shin, netiher able to hear the commotion going on with Kibito. He thrusted his hands outwards again, this time reaching forth with his mind, his time now limited. It felt as if cords travelled from his mind down to his hands, shooting out from the tips of his fingers all the way to 13.

“What in tarnation!?” 13 cursed out as he felt something reach out and wrap around his body, clamping down on both of his arms. Whatever the force was, it packed an amazing amount of strength, no matter how much the android struggled the cords just would not budge. Throwing his head back to look at his attacker, he was immediately surprised to spot Kibito seemingly pulling 13 back, off to the side 14 and 15 were still recovering from the shockwave. “Get up ya lazy varmits! This cowboy has his lasso around my neck!”

Kibito only let out one scream before 14 and 15 got back to their feet, taking off towards Kibito who now had no way to defend himself. The kid gloves were off. “NOW!”  
Looking back to Shin 13 could only grit his teeth and brace himself, Shin now stood back up again (A hole still in his chest), his hands crackling with blue energy; the very ground shook around them as he prepared the attack. “This is the sacred world of the kais. AND YOUR KIND ARE NOT WELCOME!” With that he unleashed a furious pulsating blue blast upon the unmovable 13, the blast quickly enveloping the large man until he was practically invisible.

14 rammed his hand straight through Kibito’s stomach, with nothing to defend himself with thanks to his efforts to hold 13, this blow left only a gaping hole. Then 15 took the chance to jump up and smash his foot across Kibito’s head, though the hit almost wasn’t felt, after all the wounds of the battle started to take effect, Kibito began to feel a wave of numbness overtake him. “I-I…failed…” Side-by-side 14 and 15 raised their hands, both firing simple ki blasts to finish off their fallen foe.

“Clever bastard…” 15 growled stooping low to pick up his hat, it had been knocked off beforehand by the shockwave. It was then that his head turned to witness the aftermath of Shin’s devastating attack, first being met with the sight of sprawling crater where 13 used to be standing, even annihilating the large tree behind him. “Well, someone’s been busy”

When Shin spotted the two walking over Kibito’s corpse to make their way over to him, he immediately found more fear in how eerily calm the two were. _I just killed their comrade, yet why do they still look so.. Confident?_

  
“You played the game well enough” The Dwarf gave his sarcastic congratulations “But in the end, ya still lost. Pity”

That’s when Shin realised that now he could feel another energy approaching this time, he twisted his body to look for the energy signature behind him, though that was when she decided to speak. “Excellent, even when outnumbered and overpowered you still stand to fight. You may be a weakling, but you at least you still have spirit” She stood atop the hilt of the Z Sword looking down on Shin, adorning a familiar crimson Yardranian garb as bottoms, her dark white suit of Saiyan armor was instantly recognisable, a furry tail wrapping itself lovingly around her waist.

“W-what are you people doing here!?” Her cruel smile strained against her unnatural looking skin. Pale skin tone, cracks spreading around her face like a disease and the bandages that wrapped around various body parts gave her the appearance of an almost decaying corpse. Even her long withered hair looked as if it was pulling off her skin.

“Nothing personal, worm. Or I would have joined in” Her hollow laugh seemed to echo across the planet in Shin’s mind, even his eyesight started to go a bit peculiar, a strange smell rising in front of his nose. Something was terribly wrong. The woman now floated just above the Z Sword with her cruel grin still reigning, looking down at the mystical sword of legend. “So, this is the Z sword? Let’s see how durable it is” With a flick of her wrist a Ki blast was let loose on the relic, immediately incinerating it where it stood. “Some legendary sword”

“No! You destroyed it!” Shin crid out in despair, his vision barely holding together enough to create a clear picture. “Why… If you’re not with Babidy, why are you doing this!?”

Gloved hands suddenly took hold of Shin’s head, pulling him up into the air as the familiar southern accent behind 13’s mad laughter rang in his ears. _But... But I threw everything I had at him..._  Pain sprang up again as the android’s hands began to push more pressure on Shin’s skull, threatening to break it if the pressure continued to increase, all Shin could do I the face of it all was scream against the pain “Let’s just say, Pip Squeak, we needed some insurance”

And with one final sickening crack, 13’s hands came together.


	3. Enter the Tyrant of the Fallen Empire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing the new Emperor of the Universe: Cooler!

Fire rained from the toxic clouds that polluted the skies of the planet Fiz, a barrage of laser blasts hammering down to cause large explosions that enveloped chunks of soldiers in a deadly embrace, only leaving the marks of its impact in its wake. A never ending sea of stained white armour clashed with a tide of native warriors and blood of either side’s fallen comrades. “Keep pushing! Don’t let up!” Screamed one soldier into the built in COMMs of their helmets, completely annihilating a straight line of warriors in front of him. “Their numbers are thinning out, the battle is ours, lads!” It was the soldier’s last words before a Fizzian charged at him on it’s five legs, embracing him with its pincers.

The natives of the planet were a set of tall insectoids that stood towering above the average soldier, claws for cheeks with exoskeletons as strong as steel. Their pincers easily bit into the well-made armour of the standard troops, and push on through to rip their prey in two. Leaving two pieces of a screaming corpse on the battlefield.  
“Commander down! Repeat, Commander d-“ Another soldier of the Galactic Trade Federation fell to the Fizzian’s razor sharp claw, immediately penetrating his chest. One by one the soldiers began to be overwhelmed by the increasing tide of Fizzian warriors, drowning in a sea of claws and screeches, until soon not even the corpses could be seen among the warriors.

A golden insect creature that had further developed to just stand on two legs “Upon this mountain of corpses we shall take back out city!” Through various clacking of the pincers that the creature thought of as a jaw, it had actually managed to speak words. An orchestra of clicking blades seemed to act as a resounding battle cry of agreement. Armies of soldiers armed to the teeth with the finest technology that the universe had to offer, soldiers who had been trained to conquer galaxies as their only purpose, and yet all they could do now was fire wildly at the oncoming horde while making a hasty retreat to their ships. But it was all for nothing as it turned out, their ships had already been overrun by the vermin this planet called it’s natives, within moments the creatures had managed to collapse the ground beneath the armies as if to drag their only method of escape deeper into the planet’s core.

From a distance a small circular probe extended its emotionless stare as the sea dragged unwilling soldiers, screaming and kicking for dear life, back into its bloody depths. The golden crusader that screamed for more corpses dashed towards the probe with a fire in it’s beady eyes, flashing the gleaming blade of it’s arm before impaling the probe.

* * *

 

**TRANSMISSION ENDED – CONNECTION LOST – PROBE DAMAGE LEVELS CRITICAL**

The myriad of dangerous buzzwords repeatedly flashed on the screen like a hollow laugh, looking down and mocking the small blue man that frustrated slammed his small fist into the console. Commander Sorbet could only shake with anger as the very familiar scene played before him, another transmission disconnecting as the final bout of troops were cut down in cold blood, another failure, another planet lost. Before he could stoop in his rage any longer a commanding and deep tone echoed throughout the mostly empty observation deck. “Have all our remaining forces retreat, we’ve lost Planet Fizz. There’s no point wasting more of our resources” Sorbet could only nod regretfully in response before sending out the retreat orders across the fleet in that sector.

From behind his large black nose could see the image slowly shift from the cut transmission, to a large 3D overview of a large complex, under a single line. “I just don’t understand how we lost. We were annihilating them! We had better weaponry, better technology, better men. By all accounts we should have been victorious” As he realised the volume of his voice he let out a quiet gasp, turning on his heel with his mouth nailed shut, his eyes locked onto the creature behind him silhouetted behind the shadows of the dimly lit room.

The hover chair came forward to reveal its egg-like shape and steep appearance, hovering only a few metres off the ground and only making a soft hiss from the engines that kept it afloat. Inside the vehicle Sorbet was only met with a frown to stare back at him, sunken in eyes against strained purple skin, the red face paint that dripped down beside it almost looked like it was dragging the eyes down for the usual look for Lord Cooler.

“Their advantage lied in territory. They have walked that desolate rock for over a millennium, thus they had knowledge of the tunnel complex beneath the planet’s surface, a matter which our forces were unaware of” His voice suggested that the ‘Emperor’ was holding back a growl as the realisation, his chair bringing him closer to the screen replaying the last moments of his army’s failure. It was hard to tell what emotion was flashing through the man’s eyes, his sunken in face and overall body language was always consistently unimpressed. No matter what occurred, you’d never get even a hint of a smile from Cooler, even when he was embracing victory. Even when he had taken the position of Emperor from his late Brother, a position he had long for since birth, he still kept that stone cold gaze.

Though maybe that was because neither the moments leading up to his ascension to the galactic throne, nor the days after had he ever hit nothing but disaster. When word of both King Cold and Frieza’s deaths had reached the surrounding systems, a fire was already lit, various planets from every corner of the empire now felt confident enough to challenge their galactic rulers. Frieza was never what someone would call a great ruler, he was petty, arrogant and worst of all wasteful of perfectly good resources. But that didn’t mean that the sudden death of the tyrant didn’t leave a large power vacuum, which no matter how fast the Empire was in filling the empty spot on the throne, allowed the seeds of chaos to take root. Rebellions were a weekly occurrence, with each passing day losing more ground as valuable resources slipped through Cooler’s fingertips. His family legacy slipping with them.

Every day was a grind, but it seemed that Cooler’s consistent face of disinterest allowed him to shelve the stress and look on forward. “That marks the last planet of that sector… Lost.” Sorbet briefly mourned yet another loss, the soldiers were loyal fighters to the end. While it was true that the members of the Cold family entered realms of power so powerful that they could destroy planets with a flick of the wrist, Cooler was not too keen on destroying vital resources. After all, the planets were allies in the first place for a reason. “If this keeps up, there migh-“

“I am well aware of our situation, Commander” A slight raise of the brow and chin, Cooler did not like to be reminded of the taint that riddled his Empire.

“O-of course you are, my Lord! I was merely talking to myself, but of course only in confidence, uh.. well…”

“Careful, Commander. Stumbling over your words could lead to a painful meeting with the floor” Sorbet wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be a joke, but just decided to smile anyway, not dumb enough to risk it. While Lord Cooler was nowhere near as prone to murdering his own men in cold blood, he was nowhere near forgiving, especially when planets are rising up to pull the rug out from under his three-toed feet. “Have you received any reports on our progress in other systems? Any more uprisings in the making?”

“I have them right here, as you requested, my Lord” The blue dwarf rushed back over to the screen along with a vigorous nod in his lord’s direction, quickly punching in a few buttons to bring up more status reports. “The inhabitants of Planet Sundeys seemed to have calmed down noticeably after that offering you gave them, though some of our supply ships have been under attack by Barbarians-”

With a few loud thuds and a gasp of breath Sorbet was easily cut off by a purple-grey skinned alien bursting into the room, an alarmed look almost pulsating from his expression as he drew his hand up to salute Sorbet. “Sir, I have urgent ne-“

“Tagoma! What is the meaning of this? You can’t just burst in like that, at least bow before your Emperor!”

The tall and slender alien known as Tagoma could only let out a disgruntled cry of surprise as his eyes moved to note Cooler, whose presence he hadn’t even realised was on the ship in the first place. “L-l-lord Cooler, sir! My deepest apologies, I didn’t mean to intrude. I didn’t think you would be…”

From the way the Arcosian’s eyes rose slightly at the display of the apologetic soldier, Sorbet would almost say that the royal was amused. “Be where? Here? On this ship, watching hundreds of men charge to their deaths as more of my empire crumbles before me?” Tagoma didn’t respond with words, only bending his back to bow his head before his lord. “Good boy. Now that you’ve had time to calm down, you may speak”

“I come with urgent news, we’ve received a distress signal. It was weak but we were able to track it to it’s source, Earth” There didn’t need to be any further explanation of the planet. Earth, the planet where Cooler became the last of his lineage, where his spot on the throne was secured. His brother, his father, both cut down by one monkey.

But Sorbet was rather confused on how this counted as urgent news. “Earth? I don’t remember sending any of our forces there after our scouts left years back. Either way, why would a distress signal be important enough to interrupt Lord Cooler while he’s trying to keep this empire running?”

Before Tagoma could open his mouth to respond Cooler’s voice instantly butted in. “It came through the Cold Ops Frequency didn’t it?” The hover chair almost ran Sorbet over on its way to bring Cooler closer to Tagoma, not caring about anything in it’s way. “Our scouts left that planet years ago, meaning that there’s only one possibility”  
“Yes, sir. We received it this morning, taking hours to verify the signal”

Sorbet switched his gaze between the two, completely flabbergasted as Cooler’s expression finally changed to one of deep thought. “B-but what does this matter? I’m sorry, my lord, but I do not understand the significance of this revelation”

“That frequency is a private frequency to only be accessed by those of the Royal Clan. Aside from Frieza and Father, the only other people with access to the frequency would be Father’s personal generals, the ones he took to Earth” The hover chair brought him inches away from a sweating and kneeling Tagoma. “You’re sure of this information?”

“I’d stake my life on it, sir” The man kept himself straight, always placing himself at a lower height than Cooler as a sign of their positions. “This could mean many things, my lord”

“Frieza and King Cold are dead, our scouts can confirm that. But the Generals were always unaccounted for, it was assumed that they all perished along with Frieza, but…” His eyes drew down to the floor, his mind spiralling out to look at all the possibilities. “If even one survived, why would they wait years to make contact?”  
“Maybe they had to make repairs?” Sorbet suggested.

“For over ten years?” Cooler fixed Sorbet with what one could assume was a glare, as if the small blue man had suggested something unbelievably stupid, making the already short man feel smaller. “But if there’s a chance that one still lives to this day….” King Colds’s board of generals were men at the top of their fields, men who were handpicked to nurture the Empire through its toughest times. They were the ones who Cold trusted above all, who he confided all of his secrets, all his blackmail, treaties and hidden resources to. Even Frieza would be unawre of their knowledge

With the Empire in the state of disarray it was in at the moment, both the guidance and knowledge even one general could provide would be invaluable. Knowledge of old debts that could bring rebellious planets to their knees, plus the instant credibility one general could bring to Cooler’s rule. It was too good to be true, but it was worth checking out. “Prepare my personal shuttle, I’m going to Earth myself. Either to rescue a trusted and loyal subject, or to wipe that eye sore from the face of the universe”

“Lord Cooler, if I may…” Tagoma’s voice manage to stur up some confidence just as Cooler pushed himself out of the Hover Chair, still towering above the two occupants of the room; the royal giving the man a nod as a sign to go on. “I’d think it best if I accompanied you to Earth, Sir. We already know that planet is a source of treacherous and powerful enemies after breeding killing machines like Son Goku, you’ll need backup. Commander Sorbet can back me up on my skills as a warrior”  
Sorbet began to rub his hands together along with a smile that almost made him look like some type of salesman. “Uh, yes. Tagoma is among one of our finest soldiers, rivalling even those of the Ginyu force in skill!”

Cooler replied almost instantly. “Good, then I trust him to keep you safe, Commander. Just as I entrust my military tactics and affairs to you while I am gone” Cooler did not need Tagoma, he already had his personal squad in mind. “Call in my Armoured Squadron, I trust them above all else to personally accompany me”


	4. Return of the Budokai Tenkichi Tournament

“Onions… Check. Radishes… Check.” The Saiyan girl found her thoughts muttered aloud as she scribbled away ticks on the back of a ripped and old candy bar wrapper, the closest thing to paper she could find at the time. The brow remains of chocolate acted as some sort of ink, leaving smudges that were supposed to represent ticked check boxes. “Note to self: steal pen and paper from Bulma”

Currently the grandchild of Son Goku held her face in a hesitant twist of skin, her back to the Earth’s surface as she allowed her Ki to freely carry her across the deep blue ocean of the sky, wondering if she had forgotten anything. _Wasn’t this what the candy check list was for?_ She internally groaned, glancing at the plastic bag hanging loosely from her arm, holding a slew of vegetables within its plastic walls. Curtesy of her sweet Grandmother Chichi.

Pan’s visits to Chichi’s old home in the mountains were pretty frequent, usually retrieving some more natural food that the woman grew in her backyard. Usually radishes. Videl always said that just because the world was blown to hell, did not mean Pan had an excuse to skip getting her nutrients and vitamins… _Or whatever Radishes have in them…_

Even when not on a food run Pan was happy to just pop around the house for a nice visit, the company of Chichi was a pleasant one. Well, as long as you didn’t do anything rash or stupid… Which Pan had become guilty of frequently, meaning she was met with a surprisingly effective frying pan many times. Besides, the best part of visiting Chichi was when the old lady would sit Pan down and regale her with a tale of her late-husband. Though some tales Pan found hard to believe, she was still iffy on how Goku had somehow sent a rabbit to the moon. Weird.

She made up her mind. “Note to self: Find a rabbit. If my gramps can do it, I can do it as well” The last part remained half smudged as Pan was starting to run out of chocolate ink. “I knew I should have taken the other wrapping paper from the trash, it was so much droopier” Just as she finished her regretful thought a familiar set of stretch scenery began to slowly make their way into view, prompting the girl to finally turn her body up right to cut her light gliding into a furious rush through the air. She spotted the usual row of wrecked houses that many people called home, all surrounding an uneven mixture of stone and dirt that made up the street, as the whole neighbourhood had been sinking into the ground since it was first built.

One house managed to stick out in her eye, though she wouldn’t really call the slanted collection of wood a house; more like a smaller version of a barn. It stood on the edge of the ‘street’, it’s crimson skin long since fading away, wooden surface groaning in pain as it aged. A single window allowed natural light to beam inside the far from luxurious home, giving a perfect view of… Of it.

Pan always passed by it whenever she returned home for the day and the same thing always happened, she would land on the uneven ground, internally groaning about how her feet ache due to the floor, she’d attempt to take a few steps forward. But then her head would turn. She couldn’t help but be drawn to it, a tidal wave of discord drowning her heart. The stone was smooth to touch and hadn’t lost its even edge to time yet, Trunks had carved it out himself. While not that tall in actuality, it always gave the impression of towering to Pan, like it had suddenly grown eyes to stare down at her. The round head drew her attention to the words burned into its skin.

**Here lies Son Gohan  
Age 757 – 780  
A pure heart to the bitter end**

“I bumped into Trunks again, Dad…” She only barely heard herself mutter, her feet already following a will of their own and dragging her closer to the grave stone. “He misses you, you know. We all do” Hands fell instinctively into a nervous, closed off, but respectable clasp over her stomach. “Oh, and he totally agreed to train me now. Isn’t that cool!? I’ll be just like you in no time. Okay, yeah, he said he would ‘think about it’, but that’s totally a yes in my books… You’d be proud of him, I know it. And soon, you’ll be proud of me too”

Before Pan could say more to the cold shoulder of the grave stone a loud thump erupted as a large blonde man was thrown through the front door, a smaller woman with a glare that brought a whole new meaning to the term ‘If looks could kill’ followed suit. “For the last time, Sharpner. I don’t care how many dead flowers you bring…” She brought her foot down on the man’s neck, an experience that was akin to a hammer dripping on top of paper. “When I say get off my property, I MEAN GET OFF MY PROPERTY!” After what sounded like the cracking of bones the attacking foot raised an inch, allowing the currently terrified man to scramble away from the glare of Videl Satan’s wrath. “Hurry up, before you force me to start cursing in front of my little girl”

Her arms seemed to have been pulled into a permanent cross at angle with her hips, the woman managing to take on an intimidating stance. Which sent what Pan had been told was an old childhood friend off running. “I swear, he never learns. One of these days I’m going to actually break something”

“Well, if the house is anything to go by…” Pan replied with a sideways grin, her head leaning to the left to peek around the corner of the ‘house’s foundation, where cracks infested the walls. “I think you already have. Don’t remember those cracks being here this morning”

“Maybe tossing him through the door wasn’t such a good idea…” Videl began to wonder only to merely shrug a few seconds later, before securing her eyes on the bag hanging limply rom Pan’s shoulder. “You got everything from Grandma ChiChi?” Pan responded with a brief nod, prompting Videl’s stare to become a more suspicious gaze. “Did you get into trouble?”

“Why do you always ask that!?”

“I sent you to get all this hours ago, you can circle the globe in that time” The woman made her way over to her daughter with lips purses in suspicion, slipping the bag off Pan’s shoulders and onto her hand. “What kept you? I don’t need a pack of dinosaurs arriving at our doorstep because you crashed into their nest again”

“That was one time! How was I supposed to know any better, I was still a beginner back then…”

“Or another teenager you body checked into a wall”

Pan crossed her arms and pouted, locking Videl’s gaze with her own determined fire. “I’m still not apologising; she knew what she did.” The mother merely pursed her lips and letting loose a sigh of annoyance, her hand coming up to rub her fingers against her temples.

“And here I thought you were supposed to mature when you reached 18” It made Pan giggle a bit as Videl’s stretched glare turned into a motherly smile, before turning her back to the girl to head back inside (Stepping over the remains of the door). “I hope those Radishes are still good. Kami knows what you’ve put them through”

“Yeah, yeah…” Pan fell in line with her mother to continue into the ‘house’. “You might wanna hold off on sending me for radishes now, I convinced Trunks to start training me”

Videl’s expression grew sour at this as she commented “That’s worrying”

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll be fine and won’t do anything too dangerous”

The woman’s expression quickly changed to a teasing smirk. “It’s not you I’m worried about, it’s Trunks. I can barely deal with you and I’m your mother” Truly, Videl’s heart went out for the Saiyan half-breed . “How is Bulma and Trunks these days? I haven’t see them in a while. Hell, I haven’t seen Bulma since…” Videl found herself letting out an awkward cough to end that sentence, pushing past another wall with a crack spewing down it.

It was undeniable that this make shift house was in a state of disrepair and not exactly the most liveable place in the neighbourhood, knowing Bulma, Videl could probably have found a better place in those camps outside Orange Star City where the Recolonization Project was underway, but both Pan and Videl couldn’t leave. Well, they could. But they didn’t want to. It had been sixteen years since that tragic event in this very town, where a loving father had fallen against the Android monstrosities. Videl supposed that why they had moved here, so they could always be close to his grave, for comfort, for him.

“Sorry, I didn’t ask. I was too busy stealing Trunks’s drink… And Bulma isn’t usually at Capsule Corp anymore when I swing by” Pan tried to fill in the void, her arms returning to nuzzle against the back of her head. “She’s really busy, huh?”

“She does have a world to rebuild, those Briefs never back down from a challenge”

“Can’t blame them” Chirped the little quarter Saiyan, skipping past her Mother and squeezing through the half open door into the living room. Inside she took a second to quickly reach to her right and flick on the lamp, acting as the only source of light in the room, illuminating a small table in the middle where an old and battered radio sat. “Wonder if there’s any music on today…”

Videl followed with a roll of her eyes. “Real music died years ago, now all you can get on that old thing is Country” Pan would never understand her mother’s flat out hatred for that particular musical genre, so she simply shook her head and returned to adjusting the knobs on the radio, static crackling from the device with a few moments of distorted and muffled voices in-between.

Soon the static began to clear up in some areas, Pan now slowing her turning of the radio’s knobs as she tried to get the exact frequency. For a girl as impatient as she was, the process was quite an arduous task. The moment she could finally make out the voice of the radio host she let out a sigh of relief that almost knocked the radio over.

“-iss Brief’s efforts to restore Orange Star City to it’s former glory have been a resounding success, in under six months the Restoration Project has given many families the break that’s been 17 years’ overdue. Recently the finishing touches were finished on the Town Square, introducing Orange Star City’s newly built and furbished Mayor’s office”

Pan let out an uninterested groan before reaching out to adjust the knob again. “This isn’t music. This is boring”

“And with that astounding news, we have brought in a special guest who wishes to make an announcement, he-… Uh, Sorry, Sir. But what was your name again?”

“Just call me ‘Announcer’. That’s what everybody else calls me”

“Uh… Right”

Videl’s ears perked up at the guest speaking, her head tilting slightly before she recognised the voice “That’s the announcer of the World Martial Arts Tournament, I heard he now runs a food stand in West City. What’s he doing on the Radio?”

“Alright, Folks. The Host here is making funny faces at me, so I’ll make this quick. As some of you might know, I’m the announcer of the World Martial Arts Tournament, a prestigious event where the most skilful and powerful warriors from all around the globe gather to lock horns in a battle of wits and strength. Where their very bodies are taken to their absolute limits and beyo- Huh? What do you mean I’m dawdling? Let me have this, it’s been yea- Fine, fine, fine”

Pan turned towards her Mother with a questioning gaze. “Hey, Mom. Isn’t that the tournament Grandpa won?” The Announcer continued.

“So, I’m proud to announce after 29 years, the return of the Budokai Tenkaichi Tournament! That’s right, a month from now, on the eight year anniversary of the android’s demise; you can come and bear witness to the heart pounding action on Paypaya Island!”

With that the Radio Host cut off the Announcer yet again and moved onto to other news, prompting Videl to walk over and turn off the radio as Pan seemed… Paralysed. “That’s great news, I haven’t seen two professionals going at it since I was a kid an-… Pan” Videl was unsure of whether to laugh or sigh with embarrassment at the sight of her daughter practically drooling at the news. “Stop drooling, honey”

Her words fell on deaf ears as her daughter continued to hold the look of a starving predator that had just stumbled upon a juicy prey. “Hey… Mom. Do you think that mayb-“

“Pan, I may be your mother, but you’re twenty-one. You don’t need to ask me for permission to enter the tournament” Really, Son Pan could be read like an open book. “Just don’t overdo it, not everyone is a quarter alien”

* * *

 

Trunks was usually a night person; he’d always found the strange allure of the moon shrouded by the teasing fog of the late-night clouds pulling him in. In the darkest of times back when 18 and 17 roamed the earth, he could remember finding comfort in the moons glow, tearing through the shroud of fear like a beacon, leading him to better days. Admittedly, that line of thinking mostly came from a mix of desperation and flicking through the pages of some pretentious philosophy book. But the feeling still held merit. But tonight, was strange for Trunks. As he walked down the street of Orange Star City, receiving various looks of both fear and amazement from those around him; there was a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. A foreboding one.

It was a feeling he knew well, one that he had thought would never rear its head again. The feeling that clawed at him when he was only a moment away from discovering Gohan’s corpse, when the two androids had him surrounded, when Cell smugly tempted Vegeta with perfection. The feeling had never been misleading.  
When his sixth sense told his head to turn he could only feel himself caught paralysed, his stomach seemingly turning when his gaze met another. Just across the street, under the shadow of an empty doorway, the absence of moon’s glow on the man’s face only brought out the empty azure iris’s. The man leaned against the wall, allowing Trunks to just see one side of his green vest, hanging loose against bulging muscles, just under locks of snow.

“No…” Trunks found him voice dragged violently from his throat only to make a pathetic squeak, he recognised man- No, that was no man. That was a heartless android hiding behind steel flesh. Even if Trunks couldn’t fully see the face, he could recognise the signs. The vest, the pants, the skin colour and the exact same hair. Those might not have been enough the confirm the person’s identity, but with only a moment of thought Trunks easily confirmed that there was nothing to sense from the empty vessel. “Not again, not now”

Like a hurricane tugged on reality itself everything around the boy seemed to shift, from the ground beneath his feet withering away, to the foundations and walls of every building tearing away like rotten flesh onto a scorched surface. Trunks felt his heart rate increase from a slow drawl into a rushed and furious tempo that acted as a painful sensation within his ear drums. A blanket of damp rain water stained his shoulders, he could hear them beside him laughing, taunting. And just off to the side would be where the body of his master lay, as one hand easily wrapped its fingers around Trunk’s neck.

_“You better get out of here while you still can”_

“So you can gang up on my friend again?”

“No!” With only a blink the distorted world of the past drained from Trunks’s view, leaving him back on the cold streets with the moon glaring down at him. As soon as he came back from his flickering nightmare Trunks was surprised to see a few people knocked flat onto their backs in front of him, all looking to him like he had done something incredible.

Upon further inspection Trunks found that he was no longer standing on the pavement, but hovering over a small hole that used to be a path, with a few cracks spreading to the building beside him. He must have powered up on accident when that Android cau- “Ah!” His eyes snapped back to across the street expecting to see Android 12 charging at him or at least approaching, but all he saw was that empty doorway, untouched without a soul in sight.

“He’s gone…” Without even turning to apologise to the people beside him Trunks rushed over to the doorway, his eyes frantically searching for any sign that the android had been there. “Was he even here in the first place? I made sure to blow up all of Gero’s labs when I came back… 13 shouldn’t be around, it’s impossible!” He had met 13 once before back in another timeline, where the Android had gone head to head with Goku with two other Androids by his side. They were defects Gero had deemed unfit to kill Goku, only releasing them out of desperation. After that Trunks had to entertain the possibility that Gero had many other androids hidden away across the globe.

He wanted to pass the experience off as a mere hallucination, 13 couldn’t of possibly be there taunting him, Trunks had blown up all of Gero’s labs. And even then, why did 13 run away? It was just a hallucination… It had to be. But as the Saiyan half breed took off into the night’s sky, the moon bearing witness to his desperate rushing through the air, he could fee that his gut had already decided. If there was android running amok, no matter how impossible it seemed to him…

He had to find out for sure.


	5. Meet the Rouges Gallery

Silver eyes stared up into the abyss of light above, all three suns of the planet had risen above perfectly aligned over the shell-like tip of the mountain top, it’s gaze did not burn to touch, only emitting a small warmth that combatted the cold conditions of the planet. From her perch on the tip of her axe handle, Yarimasu gazed upon the tempered sky with a slight frown of disappointment, she felt the usual presence she’d embrace on this old mountain top a creeping sensation that told her of what lay beyond the fabric of space here. But now it also felt hollow.

“You’ll harm your eyesight glaring at the sun like that, you know” The joyous call of Shimasu dragged her ever burning gaze back to the ground, where the tall blue-skinned man sat in front of her, cross legged on the marble flooring of the overlook planted on top of the mountain. He wore robes befitting of a Kaioshin with an appearance of light crimson that exposed his broad shoulders and muscles, leading up to his thick pink lips and dark red mohawk that made his overall face a goofy mess. In front of him he’d placed two steaming cups emitting an addictive odour and a kettle atop a blanket. “A blind sister will do neither my heart or our mission any good. Now come, join me for tea”

Yarimasu stood her ground atop her perch, her owl-like irises returning to their original position. “He remains silent to me” Her hands rose to slam together, her beady eye closing her off to her sight for a moment, attempting to calm the nerves within her mind calling for panic. “He’s there, I can feel him. Yet can he not hear my pleas?”

“Maybe he’s simply resting? It has been a stressful century”

“He doesn’t sleep, he loses the strength to stay awake” While her eyes remained closed her other senses opened, feeling the area surrounding her, the raised stature of every growing grass blade, the groaning branches of the oak trees that’s number swallowed the surface below the mountain and the multiple walks of life that scaled the mountain. “He’s making me nervous”

“Don’t allow your paranoia to cloud your mind. It has been a long journey, don’t let your nerves get to you simply because the end is so close at hand” He did have a point, as their plans came closer to fruition, the Kai’s own disbelief at how far they had managed to come made her all the more certain that something was about to come along and destroy their whole foundation.

“Shimasu-” It was then that the people Shimasu had sensed earlier finally arrived at the top of the mountain, hulking creatures built of yellow scales snapped their jaws at the two as they charged forward. There seemed to be five in total, practically teen agers by this planet’s standards, surrounding the outlook with their sharp teeth bared. “Savages. How rude.”

“Kill the invaders, they are puppets of the World Razer!” Screamed one of the lizards, launching itself into the air over Shimasu, aiming it’s claws towards a surprisingly indifferent Yarimasu. “We cannot let them release him!”

He landed graceful and dashed around the Kai in question, seemingly disappearing and reappearing in various spots around her, it was a clear tactic to try and disorientate the Kai. It might have been effective if she opened her eyes. “Puppets? Our strings were cut long ago”

The lizard slammed his foot into the ground and launched off it to power his momentum into his charge, slicing his claws through the air, aiming for her throat. Only his claws stopped abruptly inches away from his prey, a gloved hand snipping up and catching him by his wrist.

“Mind if I cut in? I’ve been itching for a fight” The hand increased the strength of her grip, before immediately tugging down on the limb, in one swift motion she had torn off the creature’s arm. It took him a moment to process that his limb had just been torn off, then cam the surprised screams of pain, before he finally stumbled back to glare at his attacker.

His eyes instantly went to the playfully active furry tail that wagged in could be seen as a rude manner. “Y-you’re a Saiyan. But I thought Frieza killed you all!”

The Saiyan woman’s sadistic grin faltered to a sour frown, scoffing to her self before she landed a kick to her opponent’s head. "Don’t remind me. So embarrassing.” Her hit sent the lizard off his feet and to the ground, gasping for any sort of relief to his pain. “Hmpf, seems like even Guardians have to learn their place. Beneath the superior species’ boot heel” With that she made no hesitation in slamming her heel down on the creature’s throat, finishing him off. Turning around she was met with the sight of the remaining three fighters, their fourth seemingly meeting a similar fate to the one she had just disposed of. He laid face down with a hole through his chest, no doubt the work of the dark skinned Arcosian that floated above them, catching one of the three with his tail and swinging them around.

“Apologies, Lady Shimasu, they managed to avoid our notice an-“

The female Kai shut the Arcosian’s apology up by quickly telling him to “Just get rid of them, they’re hurting my concentration” To which he responded by simply nodding and sending the lizard in his tail’s grasp flying into its comrade, ending up with the two foes sprawling across the air in a heap.

“Out the way, Conehead, I’ve got them!” The Saiyan called out with excitement oozing from her voice, she’d been thirsting for a fight for quite a while. Quickly, she seemed to vanish from her spot and re-appear in front of the scaled ball of bodies, a grin plastered on her face. Narrowing her eyes at her target she began to charge her ki, turning her body sideways, pulling her arms back to cup her hands, knees bent and left leg raised. A purple ball of blinding light began to form in her palms, forming cracks in the ground around her feet.

“GALICK GUN!” With that scream she thrusted her hands outward to unleash a full beam of Ki that had no trouble engulfing and disintegrating the two lizards, carrying what would remain of their bodies across the planet. “Now that they’re do-“

“You missed one” A short lived gasp of anguish caught the Saiyan’s attention as the Arcosian fired a single beam through the creature’s head, at least giving the man a quick death, allowing his body to crumble to the floor.

“I didn’t miss him, I merely trusted that you’d take care of him” She shrugged in response, turning to face him with a chuckle “Sorry if I overestimated your petty abilities, Fraz-…Cool-…Frost?”

“Dashade.”

“Right, right. I mixed up the names again” She made her way past him and proceeded to the still stiff as a statue Kai, glancing sideways at the other Kai who sought to make sure his tea wasn’t damaged. In a mocking tone, she added “I keep getting so confused, all you arcopoians look the same”

With a simply glance she received a crude grin as the Arcosian visibly frowned at her jab. “It’s Arcosians, Monkey.”

“Did I touch a nerve, Welp?”

“Not yet” He responded dryly, his feet reaching the ground and his hand instinctively moving to lock behind his back.

“I better keep on poking then” They both came behind Yarimasu, Dashade bowing his head respectfully while the Saiyan simply decided to cross her arms with a smirk. “You still grumpy, Boss? We took ‘em out before they could do anything”

Finally, Yarimasu’s eyes opened. “You are quite incorrect, Torne. Check your scouter” Her tone urged the duo to quickly reach up to their green scouters, flicking the small machines to search for power levels; Immediately the scouters went crazy, screaming beeps into their ears as it found an ever-increasing power level coming up the mountain. “These were merely fodder meant to weaken us before the main course arrives. The parent.”

As if on cue an earth-shaking roar travelled up the air in front of them, threatening to knock over Shimasu’s tea. Torne and Dashade pushed themselves back into a fighting stance, but Yarimasu simply raised her arms and shook her head towards them, she would handle this. Immediately following her silent order the surface of the mountain began to vibrate with the approaching roar, the edges beginning to unravel as the glowing sharp tips of dead claws, as big as a pillar, came crashing over the side.

Before them the creature soon towered over them with only half of it’s torso showing, it’s massive hands digging into the ground while it’s long snout loomed above them bring the colossus to a frightening height. “That is a fully grown adult of this species, there’s probably a few more spread across the planet. You just killed it’s children”

“I suppose it won’t take ‘They started it’ as an answer?” While Dashade gaped at the colossus, Torne only grinned in anticipation. If only this planet had a moon, then they could have a giant battle. So many missed opportunities! “Those… Were children?” The Arcosian was a bit taken back by this factoid.

Shimasu was the one to answer in a sort of calming way. “By our standards those were walking talking adults, but technically, yes. Those were children”

Dashade looked back at the corpses they left for a moment, while Torne rolled her eyes at the display. “Lighten up, Conehead. That just means this guy will give us a better fight”

The giant opened it’s snout to let out a deafening roar, with its massive size the roar caused Dashade and Torne struggle to stand their ground. A glare of hatred aimed straight for Torne, who made no attempt to hide that she was currently standing on one of the corpses. “YOU. DO. NOT. BELONG!”

“We apologise for the brutality, but they were in our way” Yarimasu shot back with a cold exterior, leaping up from her perch and slamming her foot into the side of the lizard’s face, sending him reeling to the side. “Just like you are now. A fact I take no joy from”  
She landed back on her axe handle, feet slipping down past the tip to tease the blade at the bottom, effortlessly she kicked the side of the axe like a piston, sending her and the axe into a spinning motion. As the giant moved to catch Yarimasu in his hand, he was only met with pain as the axe sliced upwards through the middle of his arm quickly, leaving half of that limb hanging off from the slash.

“Like Father, like Son” Torne noted gleefully. Shimasu held no hesitation after that of the opportunity given to her, now the Lizard’s neck was left undefended, prompting her to give her axe one more kick so that it flipped into her hand. Allowing her to grip it firmly and hold the weapon up high. The Kai moved and within a second was inches away from the giant’s neck, effortlessly swinging down and with one hint of emotion she honestly tells him. “Sorry for the inconvenience” As Yarimasu lands back on the mountain she can’t bring herself to look at the colossus’s head toppling off his body and falling to the bottom of the mountain.

“You beat him with two clean slices? How boring.” Torne’s disappointed tone pulled down her lips into a pout. She was expecting a spectacle, but she guessed this is what happened when fighters differ so widely in power.

“We’re not here to satisfy some sick bloodlust, Monkey” Dashade remarked, a slight bite to his words. “We’re here to make a difference” Torne only rolled her eyes at him yet again.

“I’m here for the Saiyans, and for Saiyans fighting is making a difference”

Yarimasu returned her weapon to her back as she made her way towards the squabbling dup. “Do you to ever stop bickering amongst yourselves?” Before either could answer with any sort of remark, she continued. “We have far more important matters to deal with. Dashade, have you tracked down that… Wizard?”

Dashade immediately straightened up like a soldier getting ordered around by a screaming commander. “I did, Mam. Babidy covered his tracks well, I can understand why the Supreme Kai had such a hard time tracking him down. Conveniently, he’s heading to Earth as we speak”

Her gaze focused on Torne. “Have you, Trosen and Kasonna made any progress on Earth”

“Some.” The Saiyan shrugged “We took care of Universe 7’s Supreme Kai. He actually managed to put up a bit of a fight”

“And the Z sword?” Shimasu visually cringed at hearing the report of Shin’s death.

“Ashes”

Yarimasu breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, I don’t want Elder Kai getting out and giving a possible threat a power up. Anything else?”

“Oh, yeah… I activated Gero’s other androids”

The Kai’s hand was very tempted to reach around and re-drawn her mighty axe “What!? That wasn’t a part of the plan!”

“It was the Doc’s idea. He even upgraded them, made them kneel to us and then had them off to cause havoc” Torne moved her hands to her hips, showing no visible care for Yarimasu’s agitation. “They’re an asset so far. And they’re not hurting the plan, so I don’t see the problem”

“The problem is you didn’t even consider running this by me or my brother”

“You’re not always available for a chat”

Yarimasu stared the Saiyan down for a moment, furrowing her brows in frustration, she knew that Torne had her part to play in all of this, but the Saiyan was troublesome. Like most Saiyans really. “Dashade will accompany you back to Earth, where I expect you to follow the plan and gather the appropriate energy. We have spent years for this moment, do not waste away all our efforts to satisfy your petty needs. Now.”

Torne turned away with a scowl and a scoff, not willing to bark back a snippy comment. Silently she walked back over to Dashade and grasped his shoulder, bringing two fingers up to her forehead. A moment later she and Dashade disappeared from view.

“You’re far too tense, Sister. Drink.” Shimasu had finally risen to his feet, holding out a cup for his sister, which thankfully she finally took bitterly. “Are you sure you want the likes of Torne to head the operations on Earth? Do you trust her?”

“I trust Torne to hit our enemies hard. And I trust Dashade to keep her in line, he’s used to keeping rabid fighters in check given his background” She raised the cup to her lips and took a relaxing sip. “Our biggest problem now is the Saiyans on Earth, while we did come to this timeline because of the absence of Goku and Vegeta, the Prince’s son may cause us some grief”

“Best not to dwell on what might be, but on what we do know. Let us trust that our rouges gallery can push on, maybe those Androids will come in use after all” He finished his own drink, picking up his fallen staff before returning to his sister. “I guess that’s us off then, to Universe 6”

  
“Yes…”

“Neither of us enjoy the idea of slaughtering our brothers and sisters, but we can’t have Champa or anyone else interfering”

  
Yarimasu locked him with a cold glare. “I won’t enjoy it, but I won’t forget that these are same brothers and sisters who so casually abandoned you” Her chin raised up to look skyward again, the hollowness was gone now, he was listening. “Champa, Beerus… Upon their corpses we shall break his chains, and he will march to the throne of the Omni-King and show that justice comes for those that deserve it, no matter their status. We will save you, Rushifa”

 

* * *

  
The night was once a precious commodity, a marvel of untapped beauty, a realm of the remaining and the shadows. The day time was reserved to be the point of movement, it was the unseen rule that the majority of motion would be carried out under the protectful gaze of a sun. When darkness beckoned it was a sign for time to slow, to quell, to capture history.

“And yet, then came sentience. From ants, to dinosaurs, to humans, to Saiyans. Creatures sneak into nature, fester in it, they fear time and disrupt it” It stood alone on a roof up high, watching the machinations of a southern bred machine as he fed the paranoia of the boy with a pleasant grin stretching it’s cheeks. It took the shape of a man, slender and regal, but pale as the moon as if born from marble. It’s right hand, the only one lacking a glove allowing its violet nails to glimmer, shot out as if to further dramatize his monologue.

The hand rotated to face the ground, dark powder daintily falling from the creature’s grasp. “The trees, the mountains, the sky… They all understood nature’s place. But these? They grow, they work, they progress, they develop, they create, destroy… No matter the hour, no matter the view. Honestly, no wonder I’m so overworked”

Pupiless eyes gazed down at the paranoid Saiyan as he took off to the sky, Trunks letting his fear and paranoia infest his expression. “You’re all so frustrating, my children. You most of all, Trunks” A light chuckle escaped his lips, past the crimson beak of his half-mask. “Ah, so beautiful. This world, so beautiful in it’s desperation and survival. It’s existence should be an insult, but I can’t help but get all tingly” His gloved finger ran up the expensive fabric of his crimson and violet suit, clutching his chest where his heart should have been.

His monologue was dissipated with the sudden intervention of a deep female voice over his scouter “You’re so weird, Kasonna.” Her tone and comment only brought more chuckles out of the man, allowing the two sharp fangs at the front of his teeth to gleam for a moment.

“Oh, Torne. It warms my core to be graced by your sultry vocals” The full blooded Saiyan was a simple joy, a promise to liven the unmoving. “Though I have little understanding of my strangeness, I am only appreciating the scenery”

“You’re standing on a roof, licking your lips, and hungrily caressing your nipples”

“I’m very enthusiastic in my appreciation”

“Perv.” She stated plainly with a rather aggressive edge, poor thing was bored out of her mind. “What’s the tinhead trio up too?”

“Playing with their food. Tut, tut, tut” Thirteen, content with the reaction he got from Trunks, strolled away with a satisfied smirk. “Gero programmed them with no manners, how rude”

“And here Dashade was hoping we’d go for the more subtle approach, he’s gonna be grumpy when he finds out the Androids are already poking the hornets nest”

“You don’t mind?”

A snort came from the other end. “As long as Thirteen remembers that the half-breeds are mine, they can cause as much havoc as they want. That’s why we re-activated them, wasn’t it?” Kasonna’s eyes trailed across the streets below him, stopping on the scene of a mother and son making their way home. “We’re gonna fight this timeline’s defenders sooner or later. I’m getting excited just thinking about fighting one of those brats, I’ve been waiting around with my blood pumping for weeks. I need to fight” She didn’t really count the lizards.

“I believe it was the good Doctor’s idea to unleash the other androids, to test his new technology on them” The mother separated from the boy, instructing him to stay by the window of a store while she went in, he was oh-so scared. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…” The boy looked up, his eyes drawn to the crimson cloak that stood out in contrast to the night sky, his eyes widening it terror at the sight of the man on the roof. “I am quite… Hungry”

“If anything happens, I’ll be waiting for an excuse to jump into the fray” Before the boys eyes, the scary man in the spooky cloak had vanished, leaving no trace or evidence that he was there in the first place. “I’ll tell that walking piece of blubber that his trinkets are doing fine. Good hunting, Pervert”

The boy turned back towards the door to the building, rushing over and slamming his fists against the hard-wooden surface, tears already threatening to burst from his eyes. “Mommy! Mommy! I saw a monster!” After a full minute of no responses the child began to full-out cry and shriek for his mother, his cries for help echoing off the empty street. He was alone.

Soon, the door finally moved open, allowing the light within to spread outside and drown the boy in it’s glow. His mother’s sweet face greeted him first, her arms following through to wrap around the boy in a caring manner, holding him close as he instinctively buries his head in her chest; bawling his eyes out.

“Shhhhh, Pumpkin. It’s going to be alright” Her tone was sweet and stuck to the boy’s ears like honey, the soothing voice managing to stop his running tears. He looked up at her, sniffling away in his fear.

“I-I was so scared… I twas dark, a-and there w-w-was this thing on the roof up there”

“Timmy…” He was met with a disappointed frown. “What did I tell you?”

“Mom, I’m serious!”

“I told you to stay right out here” All the honey was gone from her voice, her head shook, emitting a cold and nauseating aura around her. It was as if a piece of her warmth disappeared with every shake. Something was awfully wrong. “You disobeyed me”

“B-b-but… I saw…”

“You need to be punished” The boy only now noticed that the light allowed him to see the inside of the building quite clearly, and when he glanced his gaze was instantly drawn to the floor that now laid motionless on the floor. He wouldn’t make out her face, but her hair and clothes… They looked just like his mother’s…

“Mommy… Let me go…” At first it was a soft plead, before erupting into a desperate roar. “L-Let me go!”

Only then did ‘Mommy’ smile, but not a kind smile, not a sadistic smile, not even a tired smile. This smile was one of hunger, one of a predator. “You only have to give me your future”


	6. The Road Ahead

“This will not stand! I shall not take these insults anymore!” The small imp’s shrill chords of steel ripped through the ears of his companions, Shu and Mai simply groaning at his expression of anger. This had been the fifth outburst today.

“Sire, please…”

“I am Emperor Pilaf, my destiny is on a throne, royalty is in my blood, leadership is my very bones!” Pilaf shuffled forward to hoist himself up on a small crate, as if it was a podium. “My brain power surpasses that of a computer, Gods bow before my knowledge. AND SHE HAS US CLEANING!?”

To emphasize his point the ‘Emperor’ held aloft his might broom, raised it up high like a sword and poised it towards his imaginary enemy’s face. Ready for revolution. “Well, no more! I shall not go silently into the storage shed! We shall march upon her ivory towers and… Uh… TAKE OUR FREEDOM BY FORCE!”

Mai stopped her feather dusting to give Pilaf a sceptical look. “Fight? With a broom, a feather duster and a sponge?”

The imp gave this a moment of consideration, tapping his chin thoughtfully as his other hand twirled the broom around. “…You’re right. We’ll need more. A mop and bucket, perhaps?”

And so his two companions fell flat on their faces once more, the sheer stupidity displayed weighing them down. “Sire, with all due respect, that’s a terrible plan!”

“This is an amazing plan, my magnum opus of plans!”

“Well, if you compare it to your last take-over-the-building plan, I guess so…” The dog blew into the crate adjacent to Pilaf, causing an explosion of thick dust to engulf the room, by the time the room was clear, Pilaf was covered.

“What’s that supposed to mean!? My plans are great!”

“I’m sorry, Sire, I just don’t see how we were supposed to overthrow the government by launching sheep at King Fury’s castle” Pilaf was about to reply, but was cut off by Mai.

“Or how asking the Eternal Dragon for youth without thinking about your wording would help us”

“You said you’d never bring that up again!” Pilaf raised the broom towards the door, aiming the fluffy end of his weapon threateningly towards it. “At least I got us out of there before Goku’s kid arrived, he sounded pissed…”

As he finished the door was pulled open very carefully, Android 16 unsure of whether he’d accidentally rip the door off of it’s hinges, in one hand he balanced two crates, kneeling slightly to get them into the room. “Is everything here all right? I heard yelling” First, the android’s eye examined Pilaf, noticing the layer of dust embracing him. “Are you covered in dust on purpose?”

Pilaf had found himself frozen with his vice rushing away like a coward, leaving the rest of his body behind. All he could muster at the sight of the machine was a constipated “Ah.h.h…h…k…” No matter how peaceful 16 seemed to be, Pilaf would never shake off the effect of those… Darker years.

Next, Android 16 looked towards the broom, which to Pilaf’s horror was still pushed out as if he was about to impale someone with it. “Oh, were you playing a game? I’m sorry to interrupt, but you are required to work”

“Yes. Game. Yes, yes. No planning, no scheming, no Blue-haired-old-bag hating. WE ARE GOOD!” Pilaf managed to force out of his mouth in one short, quick, desperate breath. “How are you, bestist buddy, old pal!?”

If the Android had detected the panic and fear of Pilaf’s obvious lie, he didn’t show it. “I am doing well. It is nice of you to ask. I apologise for my absence, I was forced to return to the lab so that I could inspect some possible damage to my hand”

“That must be hard” Mai piped up, trying to keep the conversation going and give her master a few moments to calm down. “How do you fix yourself if the problem is internal? Do you have to screw out layers of your body?”

“I merely detach my hand at the wrist” 16 smiled with a slight bit of surprise registering on his face, not expected anyone to take an interest in the specifics.

“You… Detach your hand?”

He simply nodded in response, putting the crates down besides the door with ease before reaching towards his right arm and twisting it a few inches, resulting in it easily falling downwards with a pop like a lid opening. Giving them a nice view of the threatening metal work that went into his arm canons. “Gero built me with destruction in mind, so my various body parts hold propulsion systems that are intended to replicate the energy blasts that Son Goku use, as well as launch deadly airborne explosives”

Mai shook her head at Pilaf’s watchful and fearful gaze, as well as her canine companion’s sparkling amazement as the Android began to screw the wrist of his metal hand back into place. If the android wanted them dead, he would do so in an instant, and antagonising the rather peaceful machine wouldn’t help them at all.

The ginger haired machine offered a few confused blinks, Shu was almost drooling. “You have reverted back to a puppy, I take it you find enjoyment from my ability?”

“YOU’RE SO COOL!” Was the small Dog’s screaming response, surprising the android even more. “You have rockets, laser beams and you can remove your hands! I used to have an action figure like you, except it had a rocket pun-… YOU CAN DO A ROCKET PUNCH!”

“Rocket Punch?”

“It would do this thing where it’s fist would fire out, like BLOOOM and then it would- POW” Pilaf could only groan at his henchmen (Who was on the verge of tears?), was Shu always this much of a dork? Pilaf reasoned that the dragon balls must of reverted the dog’s brain as well.

Android 16 smiled for a moment, though it was held down with the closest resemblance to regret he could muster “You are mistaken, I am an android. One that was built to harm others. That is nothing to be proud of” It was true, he was made to hunt down and kill the source of Gero’s obsessions, but he could never bring himself to harm someone so innocent. His very nature was a failure.

“No, you’re Android 16” The dog yet again smiled

Mai elbowed Pilaf in the side when he rolled his eyes at Shu’s statement, speaking up as well. “Yeah, that’s something to be proud of!” With that, she moved back over towards the front of the storage shed, taking a small case in her hands. “Anyway, we have work to do! Don’t want the ol- I mean, good Miss Brief’s to catch us slacking”

16 merely nodded with his smile now full, taking in the two’s kind words while taking slight note of the small imp’s discomfort, though immediately his eyes focused on the case in Mai’s hand. “Could you please put that back where you found it, that is mine”

“Huh?” The woman turned her gaze down to look at the case more thoroughly, there seemed to be a stack of old paper under the glass top, all marked with a stamp (A star with the words ‘Jingle Village’ between all it’s centre points) “What’s inside?”

“Letters” 16 held out his hands with a pleading shake of his fingers, as if he was being handed a sensitive bomb. Mai complied and delicately put the case on top of the Android’s fingers. “I have a friend in Jingle Village, he’s an Android too, and he doesn’t like violence either. I don’t get many chances to go out that far, but sometimes Pan flies over there to bring him letters” With a brief pause to carefully lay the case down in a clear spot, if he could Mai was sure the Android would be sweating. “I think you’d say that he’s my best friend… I ask that you don’t tell the Briefs that, I don’t want them to feel like they’ve failed and thought of as lesser after all they’ve done for me”

As if on cue Trunks’s deep voice could be heard from the entrance way. “16, I’m sorry to interrupt, but… I need your help”

16 almost looked like he was panicking at Trunks’s appearance, as if he had been caught committing unspeakable acts against nature. The azure haired Saiyan held a grimance in his gaze, a hardened expression taking over his face. “How much did you hear, Trunks!?”

The demi-saiyan offered 16 a befuddled look for a moment, slipping out of his serious and haunted expression from before. “Huh? I only just got here. What, did you say something important?” Where 16 responded with a furious shake of his head, before looking to the Pilaf gang, pleading for them to comply. To which Trunks easily noticed, though simply shook off the weirdness, he didn’t have time to muck about. “Anyway, I need your help. It’s urgent”

“Urgent? Has Pan accidentally blown up another building? Miss Briefs was rather scary the last time that happe-“ The Android stopped talking as he registered Trunks’s expression, sweat gleamed off of the boy’s frown, unsure eyes darting around them. It was like the boy had just woken up from a nightmare. “What do you need?”

Trunks led the Ginger haired android away from the Pilaf Gang, dragging him across the yard with a hardened gaze. How could he put this? “Gero made other Androids aside from you, 17 and 18, right?”

16 merely tilted his head at this. “We already know this, that’s why we sought out Gero’s labs” Why would Trunks be asking about information he already knew? Unless… _No, please let it not be the case._

“We sought them out, yes. But did we find all of them?” Trunks turned to face the Android, only to instantly glance away with a tinge of fear. With all these memories resurfacing, Trunks could bring himself to look at another android directly.

“We found all the labs that the data suggested Gero kept” A week after Trunks had defeated Cell, he got to work looking for the multiple safe houses Gero had the Red Ribbon Army create for his experiments. Soon, the Saiyan had found 16 still slumbering in a lab, and spared no hesitation before dragging him out and reactivating him. “There were no androids created after Android 20, if that’s what you were thinking. That monster, Cell, was the last of his research. And you made sure he was no more”

“I’m not talking about new androids” By this point Trunks’s sweating was only increasing, soon he’d be hyperventilating as he paced across the grass. Thinking of all the possible way he could of missed Android 13. The database Trunks was able to extract from the computer within Gero’s lab, he thought the data there was all, but what if it wasn’t everything? Had he screwed up again?

“Trunks, the older models were defective and thus were deactivated by Ge-“

“Android 13. White mullet. Shit eating grin. Southern Accent. Trucker” Trunks had suddenly spun around to face 16 with a glare that could rival his fathers, just looking at 16 all Trunks could think or feel was the metal exterior 16 used as flesh. “I saw him, in the city”

“Trunks…” 16 kept it slow, safe, Trunks was visibly upset and 16 didn’t want to risk setting the boy off. Though he did have a brief thought as to how in the hell did Trunks know who 13 was. “Are you sure you saw him, maybe you were seeing thin-“

“Yes! No… Maybe” Trunks barked out mostly to the air, shutting his eyes and whipping himself around. “It could be a hallucination. He was only there for a few seconds, a few taunts… And then I saw THEM… and Gohan was… He on the ground…” The boy’s breathing came a slow jog as he moved to brace himself against the wall of the Capsuel Corp building, his left hand forming a fist. He spoke through gritted teeth. “But what if it wasn’t? If he was really there, that means we missed him. We didn’t find them all… And what if there’s more? If 17 and 18 weren’t the end… Then all these years that we spent… T-t-they’ll…”

The Android approached the troubled boy and placed his hand comfortingly on Trunks’s shoulder, offering him a simple smile. “If 13 aims to stir up trouble, we will stop him, together. My sensors indicate that you are far superior to that Android. We will not let this hard-earned peace be shattered” 16’s gaze turned to sweep over the scenery over the Brief’s fence, looking over the various buildings back to working condition because of their efforts. It was a hopeful view. “I will double check the database you provided, we could have missed something. After that, I will calculate the most probable zones in which other safe houses could be located. And if anything comes up, you shall not face it alone. You, will rest”

Trunks was silent for a moment with his head pressed up against the wall, taking in 16’s words. He could use a few winks. “Thanks, 16. I’m sorry I… Snapped at you” He finally allowed himself to smile at 16, only focusing on the android’s similar expression. _He’s not just an Android, he’s my friend. I’m too paranoid._ He bent his back and bowed as an apology to the man.

“It is quite all right, Trunks. You are in a very delicate state, it is only natural for you to experience such outbursts” 16 bowed back to Trunks respectfully. “I could never hold a grudge against someone who has already shown me such kindness as taking me in”

“I’ll never understand how Gero could program such a loving nature into something he intended to use to kill” Trunks mimicked 16’s earlier action and placed his hand on the Android’s shoulder, with a reassuring nod. “Also, let’s not mention our investigation to anyone. As you said, it’s also likely that my nightmares were just starting to get to me, until we know for sure… Don’t make anyone panic.”

“I understand, as the earthlings like to say. I shall staple my lips shut”

The two-move started to head back to the storage shed, all being calm now, before Trunks stopped in his tracks; closing his eyes for a moment and raising his head thoughtfully. “Pan’s here” He informed 16 in a regretful tone, he needed sleep, Pan was just going to overwork him.

“Trunks, there you are!” As Pan came into view from above, lowering herself down the large oval building, Trunks did remind himself that however exhausting; she did have a smile that always lit up his day. “And 16 too! I’ve been looking for you both”

Trunks glanced at 16 with a slight smirk “Maybe she did knock down a house…”

Which prompted Pan to pout as she agreed with herself to ignore and forget that incident, before holding a letter up to 16. “Just came back from Tingle village, Eighter hopes you can come and visit soon. Him and Snow want to show you their sticker collections” At this the girl gave a bored shrug “Kind of weird, but ey”

16’s face lit up at this, eagerly taking the letter from Pan and offering her many thanks. “Stamp collection? Oh, that would be amazing! He keeps talking about it. I’m so jealous”

“Maybe you should start one, big guy” Pan shouldered a large paper bag which gave off a rather explosive odour, one that instantly captured Trunks’s nose and set his Saiyan blood ablaze. Food. “Don’t know where you’d get any though. Maybe Grandma Chichi knows. She knows everything”

“Pan-“ _What’s in the bag!?_ “-you wanted to see me as well?” Trunks tried desperately to keep his mind off the food that was only protected by an inch of easily rippable paper. Now, he remembers that he hasn’t eaten much today…

“I seem to recall somebody promising me a training session…” For a moment her finger poked at her chin mockingly, causing Trunks to roll his eyes as she leaned closer to add. “This person, who I remember being a very handsome, kind and all around awesome guy who would love to train me”

“I said that I’d think about it, I did not make any promises, or state a date” His eyes were drawn back to the bag of juicy goodies. “Now… Stop brown nosing”

“But, Trunks! The Budokai Tenkaichi Tournament is returning soon! And I wanna enter”

“Pan, I can’t-“

“Oh common, I can convince you. Look!” She brought the bag up tantilisingly close to Trunks’s nose, an evil smirk gracing her lips. “I’ll seduce you the way anyone gets a Saiyan’s attention, through their stomachs!”

Adroid 16 fixed her with what Trunks assumed was a raised eyebrow. “I do not think Miss Briefs would appreciate such lewd acts towards her son on her lawn” _Do I even want to ask what 16 thinks she meant?_

“P-pan… I said…” It was so close, damn his stomach. He shook his head. “I was saying that I couldn’t do this today. I’ve had a… hard day, okay? I need to rest. But if you say it nicely… And leave the bag, we can start tomorrow”

Her eyes widened and her features practically glowed as punched upon Trunks, tackling him with a hug. “Yes! Of course! I’ll be here, same time? Same time. I’ll get some training gear. Do I need spandex? Or gi? Maybe I’ll just get some shorts. Thanks!” She was grinning from ear to ear, and Trunks couldn’t help but smile at her.

“So, the Budokai Tenkaichi, huh?” If the Androids or any other insidious threat are out there, he won’t let them ruin this. For Gohan. For Pan.


End file.
